With a trip coming on Monday and just finishing Playing for Pizza (a decent book by the way) earlier this week, I wanted to pick up something to read while I was in Philadelphia (and maybe on the plane, if the flight attendants feel my iPhone isn't an allowed device for some crazy reason). Thankfully, Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs was released this week and I was able to find a copy at the new Barnes & Noble at Fallen Timbers. This book, written by the blogger known for quite awhile simply as Fake Steve Jobs (recently outed as Daniel Lyons from Forbes) is billed as a parody on the life of Steve Jobs. I'm a big fan of his "fake" blog posts, and I'm hoping this book is a winner as well.

Yesterday, I heard an advertisement for The Mountain Man and their 25% rebate sale they were having this weekend and decided to stop by and take a look at goggles. After much deliberation, I settled on a pair of black Oakley A-Frame goggles with an Iridium lens. This lens is supposed to be the best all-around one for varying conditions, and I'm hoping they hold up well at the various resorts. I guess I'll find out here in a couple months...

Not even twenty-four hours after my previous post, Apple officially announced that OSX 10.5 Leopard will be available in stores starting at 6:00pm on Friday, October 26th. As luck would have it, I had already planned to take the day off to relax after traveling to Philadelphia, so it looks like I'll be heading up to the Ann Arbor Apple Store in order to stand with the Apple faithful and pickup my own copy. I'm hoping that they give out free t-shirts, but I think the experience of attending a release event at an actual Apple Store will be worth the trip. I might also take the opportunity to visit the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti...

For more information on Leopard itself, you can visit Apple's website; they have compiled a list of 300 new features available in the new OS. I'll be sure to post pictures from the event when I return home (after I upgrade my Macs of course).

It's been a little while since my last update, but I guess not a whole lot has been happening lately. Cheryl and I went to check out the new Shops at Fallen Timbers complex on opening weekend. While they need to finish filling the buildings, I think the center has the potential to be a great alternative to driving to Franklin Park (however, rumor is they will be adding a BD's Mongolian Barbeque once they break ground on yet another building on the Franklin Park campus). They just need to get some more restaurants (an Irish pub and a brewery are already signed on) and some more stores. We were fortunate to get there a little earlier than the crowds and had a wonderful (yet expensive) lunch at P.F. Chang's. If you haven't been to one yet, I wholeheartedly recommend it as it's some of the best chinese food I've had.

My family finalized our Utah ski vacation plans. We'll be leaving on the 30th of December and will be returning late on January 4th. The plan is to visit 2-3 of the resorts in and around Park City. I've already mapped out where the local breweries are, and I'd really like to visit the Winter Olympic sites in the area as well. Speaking of snowboarding, the season is quickly approaching and I need to get my Mad River Mountain season pass squared away pretty soon. I could also use a new pair of goggles; anyone want to donate a pair of Oakleys to me?

I've also got a couple of business trips coming up. Next week I'm heading to Philadelphia for a couple days to go through a disaster recovery rehearsal to prove that I can build a DNS, proxy server, and a couple firewalls. It really shouldn't be too hard, but I have very little experience with the firewall software we run. I've also decided to take next Friday off since I have to blow 5 vacation days before the end of the year. While it will be nice to not have to go back into work after traveling, my hope is that Apple announces that OSX 10.5 Leopard will be released that day so that I can drive up to Ann Arbor for the launch party. After the iPhone launch a couple months ago, I can only imagine how much fun this will be at an actual Apple store. I'll also be spending a week of November up in Royal Oak, MI, for Checkpoint firewall training; a set of courses that I've heard completely overload your brain. Oh well, thankfully I need to visit the Royal Oak Brewery anyways! =)

I haven't brewed anything in awhile... I think I need to do something about that soon...

From Temple of VTEC:

Early this morning, not far from Honda’s U.S. facilities, we were lucky enough to get a quick glance at the next generation Acura TSX.

The new TSX will take on a more aggressive look, taking design cues from the SPORTS 4 concept car shown at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show.

An improved 2.4L i-VTEC 4 cylinder motor will go into the base model with an expected 20-30 horsepower bump. The entry level model will sport either a 6 speed manual, or 5 speed auto, and will be front wheel drive.

A hotter Type-S model should also appear with around 260hp, coming from an up-tuned version of the 2.3L (240-hp) turbocharged motor currently found in the Acura RDX. The sportier model will feature a 6 speed auto/manual DSG gearbox, and is expected to feature Honda's Super Handling All Wheel Drive system.

While this vehicle will be sold as the Acura TSX in the United States, this same car, with just a few minor styling adjustments, will also sell in European markets as the new Honda Accord.

With the 2008 Honda Accord getting a diesel motor, it is possible that we could see a diesel TSX as well.

Look for the TSX to start production towards the end of 2008.

There are a couple more (and larger) pictures available here. Personally, the Type-S sounds very interesting; guess I should start rolling up the pennies now...